Buy “Big Weed” the book

Big Weed will be available in stores and online the week of April 20, 2015 but you can preorder your copy now.

Legal marijuana is the hottest story in the United States today. Twenty-five states and the District of Columbia have authorized sales in some form; Denver has more legal marijuana dispensaries than Starbucks franchises. We are witnessing the dawn of a whole new economy. And like the early days of any industry – especially one of such recent respectability – the rules and players are being established on the fly.

Christian Hageseth is the face of the revolution – an entrepreneur and father of three who worked in the white-collar world for 20 years before opening his first dispensary. The founder and chairman of Green Man Cannabis, the fastest-growing marijuana company in the country, he’s the perfect tour guide through the wild frontier, where police hardly know what laws to enforce, or parents what to tell their kids. He paints a colorful picture not only of how he got into the business, but of the corporate interests that are eager to do the same – namely Big Tobacco, Big Agriculture, and a host of leading pharmaceutical companies. He predicts a near future where the marijuana market splits in two: the high-end, artisanal market, supplied by individual growers and small farms, and the mass market, covered by the cigarette giants and anyone bold enough to compete with them.

Celebrity investors are clamoring, even if they can’t use their real names. Profits are soaring, even as some banks still won’t take the dispensaries’ money. It’s an entrepreneur’s dream, and Hageseth invites us along on his quest to build the quintessential brand of America’s new favorite vice.

“Marijuana-based tourism is already flourishing among Colorado’s bed and breakfasts, spas, and bus tour companies, Is it so unlikely that wedding planners or caterers will start planning events where marijuana is as freely available to adults as alcohol? Why couldn’t gift card and coupon-book companies bring cannabis companies to the attention of wider audiences? Is it outside the range of possibility that universities and technical schools will start offering cannabis horticulture classes?”

“Why is it that you can walk into a liquor store and buy one bottle of fermented grape juice for $15 and another bottle for $200? Both of those bottles contain the same intrinsic product, don’t they? Well, they do and they don’t. Understanding the difference is the key to understanding how the marijuana industry will evolve.“

“Everyone’s against it, until they’re not. We just need to wait for the tipping point. Ultimately, the lure of tax money, the demands of sick patients, and the evidence that recreational rollouts have gone all too well will prove too overwhelming to ignore. That’s when DC will take comprehensive action to address federal marijuana laws. That’s when lawmakers will change regulations at the numerous federal agencies that have written the failed drug war rhetoric into their charters.“

“Call me crazy, but I feel as if the entire United Stares is going through a process of enlightenment. That’s the theme I see emerging through the eyes of the cannabis industry. The legal marijuana story warms my heart because it reveals an America that is ready to right past wrongs and grow as a society.“